—Neither intellect nor spirit is needed.
Prosperity and destruction, neither is necessary.
—Confirm the reactivation of the original Chaos.
—All elements are deemed unnecessary.
—Emergency alert, emergency alert.
—The god Chaos appears.
—The mandatory recycling of resources will begin, and the original return of planetary surface resources will be implemented.
—According to the Interstellar Migration Treaty.
— 37% of the volume of unregistered planets will be levied.
—Intelligent life forms on this planet, please seek refuge immediately.
The voice announcement broadcast from the Temple of Orbit surprised everyone.
Taking away 37% of Earth's volume would render the planet uninhabitable for humans, and even if the goal of making Earth a blank slate is achieved in the future, all of this would lose its meaning.
"Do they completely disregard us...?" Shio clenched her fists, furious.
Shiomi is making the most of the environment to recover from the damage she suffered in the battle with Zeus.
But the problem is...
"Bridge, what's the situation?" he asked, inquiring about the monitoring status from the bridge.
"The relative distance between us and the enemy is at least 20,000 meters! Storm Border simply cannot support such a long-distance voyage into space!" Romani listed the current situation. "Moreover, even if there were heroic spirits exploring the universe present, they could only reach that far. The Demon King preserved human history and total demonic power as a band of light; even possessing energy of the same scale as that band of light would not be able to destroy it—"
"What a shallow way of thinking, Chaldea. In the end, your so-called victory was only achieved by relying on this man?"
Then, a familiar voice rang out, cold, arrogant, and with an unparalleled insight into all things.
Chapter 112 The Unexpected Grand Order
The sound, which came out without warning, startled everyone.
It sounded so familiar that it had an absurd, almost ghostly quality.
Shiomi stood up from the ground and looked at the man who had appeared on the deck at some point.
They were standing on the deck, not far behind them.
An entity that orchestrated the crisis of the burning of humanity and impersonated the King of Magic.
The ultimate summoning technique personally created by the Magic King Solomon—
"Demon King, Goetia."
tide Jian slowly stood up.
Chaos was already preparing to seize the planet's resources, but now the Demon King Goetia has appeared. This is really terrible.
At the same time the Temple of Time was destroyed, the Demon King Goetia also disappeared.
After that, neither Chaldea nor Shiomi investigated the matter further, and neither did Romani.
After all, with the loss of the Ten Commandments, the burning of humanity was completely overturned.
Even if they reappear as adversaries, they will only be formidable enemies.
"So you've donned your master's disguise again, planning to continue faking your Grand Caster identity?" Shiomi raised her hand. "If you're going to get in our way at a time like this—"
He grasped Gungnir and pointed to Getia, who appeared before the crowd as Solomon.
"Even though you've gained godhood, you still retain a human way of thinking. Don't disappoint me too much, Teholm." Goetia ignored Shiomi's hostility, quietly addressing him by his divine name and uttering a mocking remark.
"What are you planning to do?" Shio asked.
“It’s just some trivial things that only Grand Masters do.” Goetia walked slowly forward, past Shiomi and the other two, and moved to a position a little further ahead, watching Chaos.
"...The spirit origin reaction is indeed at the level of a Grand Servant. Whether it is a disguise or not is unknown."
On the other end of the communication, Romani's voice came through, his tone tense yet serious.
He knew that Goetia had not died in the battle at the Temple of Time, but why he was here was still somewhat puzzling.
Even though she lost the Ten Commandments, Goetia still possessed Solomon's remains and was a top-tier magical formula created by Solomon. If she wanted to act as a Grand Servant, it wouldn't be difficult for her.
“That cold-blooded man never showed up. I’m just here as a substitute to tell you all some good news from Chaldea,” Goetia said coldly without turning her head.
"Good news?" Artoria was taken aback.
“While you cannot destroy Chaos, you can stop it from interfering in this universe,” Goetia said calmly. “What you need to do is close the window through which that eye peers into this universe.”
Shiomi immediately understood that Getia was not there to hinder her, but rather to offer help from GrandCaster's perspective for a certain purpose.
Or rather, Chaldea accomplishes something.
After all, even though Goetia burned up the entirety of human history, it never intended to destroy or even kill a planet.
“That’s a hole opened in space, something invisible… still, the concept of emptiness,” Shio said. “How do we close it?”
"The man who was not even afraid of divine punishment, did he begin to fear death after becoming a god?" Goetia said.
tide Jian was taken aback, then immediately understood: "You came all this way just to say this? Because I ruined your plans, and you've been waiting for the right opportunity to take revenge?"
"Look at my actions as you see fit, but if you intend to stop Chaos's current actions, then there's no need for further discussion," Goetia added.
"A Grand Caster, with eyes that can see into the past and future, can't even close the window through which Chaos observes this universe?" Shiomi asked sarcastically.
Goetia remained unmoved by Shiomi's mockery: "If necessary, I can certainly do it. But if you defeat me and can't even do this simple thing properly, requiring my intervention—"
He finally turned to look at Shio:
"If you declare here in the name of God that you are entrusting the future of humanity to me, then I will take over the task for you."
"As expected..." tide Jian understood.
“It seems you’ve also noticed something you’ve overlooked before,” Goetia replied coldly. “Time is running out. Make your choice, Teholm.”
“There’s no need to choose. Since we made our choice back then, these six options won’t change now.” Shiomi rejected Goetia’s deal without hesitation.
Regardless of whether Goetia could do it or not, he did not want to entrust the future of humanity to his hands.
However, Shio saw a strange smile in Gaia's eyes, but she couldn't tell whether it was mockery or approval.
Perhaps Goetia wanted to use this opportunity to get rid of Shiomi, or perhaps she was just reluctantly coming here to lend a hand for the sake of the planet and humanity.
After all, the opponent is Chaos, so adding a little weight to the scales on Chaldea's side would make things more fair.
"Humph……"
After giving a cold reply, Goetia suddenly took flight.
A star bridge leading to Chaos appears from nothingness.
The location of Chaos, which could be subjectively confirmed but could not be pinpointed by the measuring instrument, was accomplished through the work of Goetia.
It traverses this labyrinthine dimensional rift disrupted by Chaos, pointing out the only correct path to Chaos's location.
“Now! Storm Border engines at full speed, along that road—” Olga Marie gritted her teeth and made her decision.
She roughly knew what was going to happen next, but the teacher had already made his decision, and she couldn't trample on his resolve.
"Can't!"
Melissa, however, unusually objected to this.
“Merxin, you—” Artoria thought that Merxin was being swayed by her emotions and objected to this.
But then she took off her flight armor and walked to Shio's side.
“There are many things to do after this, and many companions on this land.” Melusin shook her head. “StormBorder needs to stay and prepare for the battles to come.”
tide Jian wanted to refute, but just like her, she couldn't bring herself to say anything against her decision.
“My name is Melusin, a fairy name given to me by my Lord.”
As she spoke these words, a tremendous magical power erupted from Melusin's body. It was not the magical power of a fairy, but rather the magical power of Albion, the last dragon.
"...At this moment, I relinquish this name, return to the beginning, and reveal my 'realm' as the Dragon of Albion!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Melusin transformed into a beam of light and flew into the sky before disappearing. What appeared before everyone was no longer Melusin, but a beautiful dragon.
Melusin exerted all her strength and briefly regained the form that belonged to the Albion Dragon.
Just to become someone's strength.
Chapter 113 Closure
Without further hesitation, Shiomi Tenkei jumped onto the dragon's back in Merushin.
Having shed her fairy identity and returned to her form as the dragon of Albion, since it was originally just the left hand of her remaining body, Melusin didn't know how long she could maintain this form, or even whether she could return to being the fairy knight Melusin. She couldn't say for sure.
But Melusin has no regrets. She will fulfill the duty of the Albion Dragon as the 'Boundary' in this place, in the face of powerful enemies.
Originally, after reverting to this form, it would become a rainbow spanning the boundary line, or a gateway to another world or dimension.
"Tianxi!" Artoria suddenly called out Shiomi's name from the deck.
Shio turned to look at the Knight King, who was filled with worry but unable to stop him: "I'm entrusting Storm Border to you. Take everyone to meet up with Morgan."
"Will you come back?" Artoria asked.
"..." tide Jian was speechless for a moment.
This was probably the second time he had embarked on a path he wasn't sure of, and he himself couldn't say for sure what awaited him ahead.
"If you want to keep wasting time, fine, it's not my time after all," Goetia's voice drifted from afar.
Clearly, maintaining this path through the multidimensional labyrinth, guiding him and the Albion Dragon to Chaos, was no easy task; otherwise, Goetia wouldn't have appeared as the Grand Caster.
"Stop rushing me, we'll go now, as you wish!"
Shio responded loudly, then clenched her fist, bent down and gently patted the dragon's neck, saying softly, "Take off."
Then, a roar that resounded through the sky was Melusin's response to him. She spread her wings, gathered magic power into her body, and flew towards the starry sky where Chaos was.
In the blink of an eye, the figures of gods and dragons, along that long road, became tiny dots in Chaldea's view.
Because of the roads constructed by Goetia, Chaos, which was originally an infinite distance away and located at the other end of countless dimensional labyrinths, became a colossal entity only a little over 20,000 meters away.
As Albion rapidly approached Chaos, the sky... or rather, the universe, was gradually rising.
That was the Dyson sphere, a futuristic technology that was only a hypothetical concept for humanity and could not even be realized in theory, which would turn an entire star into a source of energy.
What they are doing right now is getting as close as possible to the location of a star.
"My husband..."
Morgan's voice rang out again through spoken words.
“…My wife,” Shio replied in her heart.
"You'll come back, won't you?" Morgan asked the same question, her voice trembling as she tried to suppress it.
"I'm sorry... I can't promise you anything." tide Jian pressed her hand to her heart. "If I can't come back, I'll leave the rest to you."
“I will not forgive you for saying such irresponsible things again.” Morgan’s voice was choked with sobs.
This was just her being willful; she understood better than anyone what Xijian was doing.
It's not about being irresponsible, but about doing everything in our power to be responsible.
As a human being, and also as a god.
“You’re right,” tide Jian replied softly.
“…Really…what can I say?” Morgan sighed deeply. “I promise you.”
"Thank you."
With her thanks, Shiomi ended what might be her last conversation with Morgan.
He had promised never to leave her again, but once again, for a greater responsibility, he had to risk his life to try.
"Lord Tianxi... no, I should address you as such..." Meilushin's voice rang out, echoing in his mind, "My god, are you weeping?"
"Yes." tide Jian did not deny it; the person with tears welling up in her eyes at that moment was indeed herself.
"Please don't cry. Everything you did was the right thing. I am honored that you were able to retrieve it, that it could become your strength, that it could fly with you to the eye of God that is watching us, and that it could protect the planet and our companions behind us," Melishin told Shiomi.
“I clearly told you to choose your own path and live well.” tide Jian knelt on the dragon’s back, observing Chaos getting closer and closer in her field of vision.